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True Cross

concept of the cross upon which Jesus was crucified

12 dated entries naming True Cross, drawn from 12 separate years between 255 CE and 1380 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

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3rd century

  • 255Saint Helena, Roman empress who was the reputed discoverer of Christ’s cross and mother of Emperor Constantine (d. 318)source

4th century

  • 326September 14 (traditional date) – Helena, mother of Constantine I, discovers the so-called True Cross and the Holy Sepulchre (Jesus's tomb) in Jerusalem. On her pilgrimage, which begins about this year, she pauses on the Aegean island of Patmos, where she is said to found the church of Panagia Ekatontapiliani.source

6th century

  • 569Emperor Justin II and his wife Sophia send a relic of the "True Cross" to the Frankish princess Radegund, who has founded a monastery at Poitiers.source

7th century

  • 614Sasanian conquest of Jerusalem: A Persian–Judaean army (26,000 men) commanded by Shahrbaraz captures and sacks Jerusalem, after a 20-day siege against the Byzantine Empire. Somewhere between 57,000 and 66,500 citizens are slain; another 35,000 are enslaved, including the Patriarch Zacharias. Many churches in the city (including the "Church of the Resurrection" or Holy Sepulchre) are burned, and numerous relics, including the True Cross, the Holy Lance, and the Holy Sponge, are carried off to the Persian capital Ctesiphon.source
  • 629September 14 – Emperor Heraclius enters Constantinople in triumph. In a ceremonial parade, accompanied by the True Cross, he is welcomed by the citizens and his son Heraclius Constantine.source
  • 630March 21 – Emperor Heraclius returns the True Cross, one of the holiest Christian relics, to Jerusalem. He tries to promote Monothelitism, which is rejected by the Christians.source

12th century

  • 1156Mosan artists create the Stavelot Triptych, a masterpiece of Goldsmithing, as a reliquary to house purported pieces of the True Cross.source
  • 1188March 27 – Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa) holds a Diet at Mainz and takes the Cross, followed by his 21-year-old son, Frederick IV, and other German nobles. He sends a delegation to present an ultimatum to Saladin in Syria on May 26. With demands to withdraw his Muslim forces from Palestina and to return the True Cross to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.source
  • 1190Battle of Tryavna: Byzantine forces under Isaac II are ambushed and defeated by the Bulgarians in a mountain pass, near Tryavna. In panic, the Byzantines break up and begin a disorganized retreat. Isaac barely escapes, his Varangian Guard has to cut a path through their own soldiers, enabling their emperor's flight from the rout. The Bulgarians capture the imperial treasure, including the golden helmet of Isaac, his crown, and the Imperial Cross which contains a wooden piece of the Holy Cross.source

13th century

  • 1215Summer – Emperor Otto IV is excommunicated and forced to abdicate as ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. The German nobles, supported by Innocent III, again elect the 20-year-old Frederick II as King of the Romans who is crowned in Aachen, on July 25. The same day, Frederick takes the Cross and promises to go on Crusade.source
  • 1248April 26 – The Gothic chapel Sainte-Chapelle (Holy Chapel) is completed and consecrated in Paris. Louis IX moves the relics of the True Cross and Holy Lance to the chapel with great ceremony.source

14th century

  • 1380April 17 – The impostor Tagaris follows his donation of relics to Ancona with what he claims is one of the nails from the True Cross upon which Jesus of Nazareth had been crucified in the first century, as well as a foot from the skeleton of Saint Anne, mother of the Virgin Mary and grandmother of Jesus. His claims are believed by the leaders of Ancona and he is appointed as the Latin Patriarch of Constantinople by Pope Urban VI .source

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